The IIHF Officiating Committee has selected 16 referees and 16 linesmen to officiate at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Russia.

Pending formal approval by the on-ice officials, the referees and linesmen listed below will call games at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship that will take place in Moscow and St. Petersburg from 6 to 22 May 2016.

The officials were selected from a list of 63 candidates whose performances in international and domestic competitions were closely observed during the last few months. The referees and linesmen join from 12 different countries.

The group includes both experienced officials combining for 62 World Championship and Olympic participations as well as ten officials who will work for the first time at the top men’s senior World Championship after having previously left their mark at other international events.

Among the most experienced referees is one from the host nation. Konstantin Olenin called games at six World Championships and one Olympics. He officiated the gold medal game of the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Stockholm and the bronze medal game of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Daniel Piechaczek from Germany even had one tournament more – 7 World Championships and one Olympics.

Tobias Wehrli from Switzerland also worked in six World Championships but some of them as linesman. He officiated in two gold medal games at the Worlds, last year in Prague as a referee and in 2010 in Cologne as a linesman.

Another official who converted from linesman to referee is Stefan Fonselius from Finland. He was assigned to gold medal games at the 2009 Worlds in Berne and the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and returns in Russia to officiate for the first time in six years in a top-level IIHF event.